


Failsafe

by StarStrom21



Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:24:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3458978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarStrom21/pseuds/StarStrom21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ring and Skull are feeling like outcasts in their own family, time to find out why they're being excluded.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Failsafe

Ring Man stepped through the door with a frown covered by his mask. He’d just gotten back from work and it hadn’t been a good day. Setting down his bag he went down to the lab to tell Dr. Cossack he was home.  
“Evening Doc… uh Dad,” Ring Man said as he came down the stairs to the lab. It had been a few weeks since Kalinka had been rescued and the original six Cossackbots had been programed back to normal while he and Skull Man had been reprogramed to no longer be loyal to Wily, but he still wasn’t used to calling Dr. Cossack his father.  
At hearing his sons voice Dr. Cossack looked up from the computer he was working on, discreetly closing a window that he’d been looking at. However not before Ring Man noticed his and Skull Man’s serial numbers on it, Ring Man didn’t say anything about it though. “Good evening Ring Man how was work?” the bearded robotics expert asked.  
Ring Man shrugged his shoulders. “No better than any other day. Another one of the rookies was being uncooperative and said he refused to take orders from a robot. The commissioner was also on my case like always.” He let out an artificial breath. “Some days I wonder if it’s even worth going to work when it feels like everyone hates me.”  
Dr. Cossack frowned at that last part and stood up from his seat. He then went over to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure things aren’t as bad as you think, perhaps all you need is a break from the stress.”  
Ring Man looked to his father’s hand then back to Dr. Cossacks face and nodded. “Maybe you’re right; it’s probably just the stress.”  
Dr. Cossack relaxed a bit at hearing that and looked to the stairway leading to the rest of the house. “By the way have you seen Skull Man today?”  
Ring Man looked up and shrugged again. “I think I saw him outside with Kalinka by the swing set. Why?”  
“Just wondering, why don’t you go join them? I want to talk to a few of your other brothers for a moment.” He then went up the stairs in search for the original six.  
Ring Man watched him go before looking back down at the floor. “Yeah I’m sure everyone would be happy if I took a very long brake.” Shaking those thoughts away he did what his dad had suggested and went outside to see how his little brother and sister were doing.  
Once outside he saw Skull Man pushing Kalinka on the swing and smiled. No matter how bad his day had been it was always nice to see his younger siblings playing together. He watched this for a while before making himself known. However, as soon as he called out and waved to them Kalinka tried to do the same. Unfortunately, that meant she let go of the swing with one hand just as Skull Man gave her another push. Neither Ring Man nor Skull Man reacted fast enough and they watched their little sister tumble to the ground, letting out a pained yell.  
Instantly they were at her side and looking to see if there were any injuries. However, as soon as they put their hands on her it appeared she flinched away as if she was afraid they’d hurt her. That had only happened once before when they were still under Wily’s control and it hurt to see her react to them that way again. The two robots quickly removed their hands, not wanting to unintentionally scare their sister even more.  
It was then the rest of their family came out to see what had happened. Pharaoh Man was the first to react and ran over to them.  
“What happened?” the oldest DCN demanded, giving both his brothers an accusatory look.  
Both of the younger robots flinched at hearing their brother and looked up at him before looking back down at Kalinka. They were too scared to say anything. They had not only let their little sister get hurt but in some way it was also their fault. That was something none of the DCNs should ever have happen and they feared what would happen if they told the others.  
Eventually Kalinka calmed down enough to explain what happened for them. “It… it was my fault. Skull Man was pushing me on the swing and Ring Man came out. I let go of the swing with one hand to wave to Ring Man and I lost my balance.”  
Dr. Cossack then came over and picked Kalinka up. “I think it’s time everyone came inside and got ready for the night.” He then carried his daughter inside as his sons followed after him, Ring and Skull in the back.  
A few days past and no one mentioned the incident with Kalinka. However, both Ring Man and Skull Man could feel a tension coming from their brothers and sometimes they would see Kalinka giving wary looks as if she was afraid they would do something. They also noticed Dr. Cossack was in the lab a lot more often and was very vague about what he was doing down there. The more time went on the more the two robots started to feel excluded from the family.  
One night Ring Man was lying awake in his bed. He’d been trying to go into sleep mode for hours now but for some reason too many worried thoughts were entering his mind. He kept trying to dismiss it as nothing but he couldn’t help but feel there was a wedge between him and Skull Man and everyone else. Why were their brothers so suspicious of them? How come Kalinka seemed so scared when they were around? What was their dad doing in the lab all the time?  
His audio receptors then picked up the sound of the door to his room being opened. Looking up he saw Skull Man standing in the doorway. To anyone but a member of the Cossack family that sight would have given them nightmares for a month but Ring Man just gave his brother a look to ask what he was doing up.  
“I couldn’t sleep.” Skull Man answered.  
“You too?” Ring Man stated before sitting up in bed.  
Skull Man nodded. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.” He then went over and stood next to Ring Man’s bed.  
Ring sat up and looked to his little brother. “I assume it’s the same things that have been keeping me awake?”  
Skull Man turned his head to look at Ring Man. “Yes, I am concerned on how our family has been acting lately, especially what Father has been doing in the lab that he won’t tell us about. You don’t suppose it has anything to do with us do you?”  
Ring Man frowned at the question. Yes, that thought had entered his processer many times. His optics widened as a memory made its way to the surface. “Skull I think you might be right. A few days ago when I was in the lab to talk to Dad I saw him close out of a window on his computer as soon as he saw me come in. I didn’t see what it was about but I saw our serial numbers.”  
Skull Man’s fists clenched. “Then it’s confirmed, but why keep it from us. If it has to do with us, than Father should have informed us about it. Question is what do we do now?”  
Ring Man stood up from his bed. “I say we find out what’s going on for ourselves.”  
Skull Man nodded. “Agreed.”  
The two Robot Masters then sneak out of the room and down to the lab. After making sure no one was down there they went over to the computer Dr. Cossack had been using. It didn’t take them long to find the file. Most of it was very technical and they couldn’t understand much of it, but from what they could understand there was a lot that about how they, unlike the other six, had been programed by Wily not Cossack. That was an instant red flag for them. They continued scrolling until they suddenly stopped. What was on the screen were copies of their programing with several parts highlighted in red. That also wasn’t a good sign. They feared what they would find next but kept going until they got to the last page and their cores almost stopped. For a long moment all they were able to do was stare at the screen. The first line that on that page read: ‘irreversible IC chip alteration.’  
Both Robot Masters took a step away from the computer. If it were possible for robots to breath they would have started to hyperventilate. They couldn’t be seeing this right.  
“I don’t understand.” Ring Man said showing obvious fear.  
“Isn’t it obvious brother? Dr. Cossack is attempting to alter our IC chips and change our personalities.” Skull Man answered reverting to calling Dr. Cossack by his name rather than father. Anyone who planned to change who he and his brother were, was not someone he considered family.  
“But I don’t understand what his motivation for doing something like this would be. We’re no different than the other Robot Masters he’d made.” Ring Man pointed out clenching and unclenching his fists in anxiety.  
Skull Man turned to Ring Man giving his older brother a serious look. “You know perfectly well what sets us apart from the others. Dr. Cossack fears us because we were not programed by him but by Wily. He thinks this makes us dangerous and he wants to change everything because of it.”  
Ring Man really didn’t like this, but there was nothing he could do the evidence all pointed to it. “So what do we do now? Staying here is out of the option but if we just run away we could be labeled as rogue and have the police force after us as well. There’s no place we’ll be safe.”  
Skull Man turned his gaze to the ground he knew Ring Man wouldn’t like what he was about to suggest. “There is one place. Back with Dr. Wily.”  
Ring Man’s head shot up and looked to his little brother in disbelief. “You’re not serious? The man is evil.”  
“But he’s also our only option like you said there’s nowhere else we’d be safe.” Skull Man crossed his arms and looked away. He wasn’t used to this kind of emotion and didn’t know how to handle it.  
Ring Man’s features softened it may not have been obvious but he could see his little brother was scared and that was something he couldn’t bear to see. “Alright, let’s go. The faster we get out of here the better.”  
Just then they heard sound of someone coming down the stairs and they tensed. If they were found down here it was all over for them. Quickly they hid behind one of the larger machines in the lab and peaked out to see who it was. They saw that it was Dust Man; he must have come down to clean the lab. Skull Man press himself farther into their hiding spot. He was weak to Dust Man’s attack if they were found it would only take a few Dust crushers to send him offline.  
Ring Man picked up on this and turned to his brother. “I’ll distract him, you get to safety. I’ll be fine Dust Man is weak to my weapon.”  
Skull Man nodded and got ready to run. Ring Man then leaped out from behind the machine taking out his Ring Boomerang and knocking Dust Man to the floor. At seeing the larger DCN fall Skull Man darted out of where he was hiding and made a mad dash for the stairs. Ring Man followed him soon after. Now all they needed was to get to a place with a clear teleporter signal. Unfortunately they couldn’t seem to find such a location, seems Dr. Cossack was jamming the signal.  
“Come on he can’t have made the jamming go too far we need to get out of range.” Ring Man shouted to his brother.  
Skull Man nodded and the two started running down the street. However it was then that the other DCNs came outside and gave chase. Bright Man was the first to catch up to them. He shot a Flash Stopper at them but Skull Man put up a Skull Barrier to block the attack. Pharaoh Man was the next to catch up and this time his weapon it’s mark. Ring Man tumbled to the ground and groaned in pain. However before he could get up he was quickly picked up by Dive Man and held tight so he couldn’t get away. He struggle to get free only to feel an inhibiter collar was then placed around his neck. That was it he was done for now. At seeing this Skull Man stopped and started charging his Skull Barrier to free Ring Man only for a Rain Flush to hit him in the back. He looked up to see Toad Man had caught up with Dust Man close behind him.  
“Skull run!” Ring Man shouted to his little brother.  
Skull Man looked once more in his direction before nodding and running off. “I’ll come back for you,” he promised as he continued to run from the other DCNs.  
The chase went on for a while longer and soon they would be reaching the end of the teleporting signal jam. Skull Man started to have some hope that he would make it, only for that hope to be crushed by the feeling of a Dust Crusher hitting him squarely in the back and send him flying. No he couldn’t fail he had to get up and get out of there or it would be over, for both him and Ring Man. He shakily got to his feet and was about to start running again, but it was too late. He was already surrounded by to other Cossackbots. He felt Dust Man grab ahold of him and he started to struggle. No it couldn’t end like this he had to get away, Ring Man was counting on him. He then saw as Pharaoh Man come up to him with an inhibiter collar in his hand.  
“NO! Keep that thing away from me!” Skull Man shouted, but Pharaoh Man didn’t listen and the collar was locked into place. He was then picked up by Dust Man and taken back to the lab with his brother.  
Once at the lab the next thing both robots would know was that they were being strapped to the two lab tables with magnetic restraints. Dr. Cossack then when up to Ring Man and opened the compartment in the back of his head. Ring Man begged and pleaded to be let go but Dr. Cossack didn’t pay any attention to what he was saying. Skull Man could only watch as his brother was taken offline. Dr. Cossack then went over to him.  
“Pleas Father don’t do this.” Skull Man pleaded. He hoped that in one last ditch effort he’d be able to convince him that what he was doing was wrong, but his plea went unanswered and he was taken offline.  
[Reboot complete Skull Man is online.]  
Skull Man looked around to find that he was in his room lying in his coffin-like bed.  
“Skull! You’re awake!” And suddenly Skull Man had a smiling 9 year old on his stomach.  
“Oof! Kalinka?” Now Skull Man was really confused. The last thing he remembered was being shut down to have his personality changed. Now he was in his bed with his little sister on top of him. Just then he heard a familiar voice.  
“Don’t go breaking him again; we don’t want to have to take him back down to the lab after he just got fixed.”  
“Ring?” Skull shifted under Kalinka and sat up to see his big brother coming over to them.  
“Yes?” Ring Man asked now next to the bed.  
“I don’t understand. What happened?” It was the first time in his life Skull had ever felt so confused.  
“Dad said he’d explain everything to us over breakfast, but I can tell you that both our IC chips were never touched.” Ring Man reassured him  
Down at breakfast Dr. Cossack explained to them that because they had been programed by Dr. Wily he’d put a failsafe in them that he put into all his robots to prevent any of them from being reprogramed. The failsafe had activated right after they’d been reprogramed by Dr. Cossack and he’d been working against the clock to find a way to remove it.  
The failsafe affected their processors making them believe everyone was scared of and or hated them when in actuality it was all in their heads. Once they were completely convinced staying where they were was dangerous the failsafe then made them start to think the only place they’d be safe was with Wily. It was a good thing their brothers had got them back when they did.  
After the explanation both Ring Man and Skull Man understood what happened and there were no hard feelings for having to be shut down. From then on things started to return to normal for the Cossack family.

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea a long time ago and only now found the fic that I wrote for it. I had the idea that since Ring and Skull were made specifically to fight Rock they would be made after Dr. Cossack was forced to work for Wily. That would also mean they are technically part Wilybot since Dr. Wily had a hand in their creation. So I then wanted to write a fic for it and this is what came out.


End file.
